Nubble Light Limo told to get use permit in York

Wednesday

Jul 31, 2013 at 2:00 AM

YORK, Maine — The owner of Nubble Light Limo is upset because the town's code enforcement office is requiring him to get a use permit from the Planning Board after the Board of Selectmen complained that his vehicles are registered in New Hampshire.

Susan Morse

YORK, Maine — The owner of Nubble Light Limo is upset because the town's code enforcement office is requiring him to get a use permit from the Planning Board after the Board of Selectmen complained that his vehicles are registered in New Hampshire.

Owner Kevin Fennelly confirmed that Nubble Light Limo's vehicles are indeed registered in the Granite State because the business got its start in Dover and Newington, N.H.

The vehicles are parked in the same lot as Enterprise Rent-A-Car, 647 Route 1, Meadowbrook Plaza, Fennelly said. He rents the spaces from property owner King Weinstein, who did not respond to a request for comment.

The issue of a use permit is in the hands of attorneys and Weinstein, Fennelly said.

Fennelly said he doesn't understand the big deal being made by town officials over the business, or the New Hampshire plates.

Code Enforcement Officer Amber Harrison is requiring either him or Weinstein to go before the Planning Board for a permit for the limo business as a new use, Fennelly said, a statement that was confirmed by Community Development Director Steve Burns, who heads the code office.

Fennelly said July 25, "I'm Enterprise, only I'm renting limos. What's the fuss over four or five cars from another state with an office there?"

Fennelly does not own Enterprise — which does have a use permit filed with the town — and has no use permit to rent out limousines, according to Harrison, who said Tuesday she sent Weinstein a notice of violation as the owner of the property last week.

The deadline to submit a new use permit for the limo service is the end of this week, according to Harrison.

The business is taking up parking spaces in Meadowbrook Plaza and has a banner, which isn't allowed, Harrison said.

Until the business receives the proper use permit, Fennelly has been asked to park the limousines in the back portion of the parking lot, according to Fennelly and Burns. The cars had previously been parked closer to the front in a fan formation, with at least one covered by a huge banner that drew attention to the Maine number to call and the conflicting New Hampshire plates.

"Unless people see the cars, we can't do business," Fennelly said.

Several people have commented to the Board of Selectmen about the plates, according to at least two board members. Chairman Ron Nowell raised the issue at a meeting earlier this month.

"I don't know how they can legally run a business in Maine and have the cars registered in New Hampshire," said Nowell, who asked Burns to look into the matter.

Selectmen also said they have received complaints about the condition of the plaza property, including dead plants and cracked asphalt. At the board's July 22 meeting, they put off approving a request by Weinstein for a business license for York Pizza at Meadowbrook because of alleged landscaping that violates his original subdivision plan.

Demand for Nubble Light Limo has been high since the business was started last year, almost as an afterthought to Bill & Bob's bridal, prom and jewelry stores at the Fox Run Mall in Newington, according to Fennelly.

His parents started Bill & Bob's in York Beach 47 years ago, and while the business has expanded to Newington, he considers York to be its home base. The limo service was named after the famous Cape Neddick "Nubble" Lighthouse, even before he started parking cars in York, he said.

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